Independent Investigation Into Election 2004

[Corey_Baker08]

I am 15 years old and I doing my own independent investigation into the election of 2004 and involvement with fraud. I will be presenting this to my 9th grade class as a student activity project. I want to reveal to my fellow students and the staff at the school the unfairness in this last election.

Please post details that you have about exit polling data, voter suppression, voter disenfranchisement, shortage of voting machines in particularly Democratic areas, the Triad connection, Kenneth Blackwell, who I have little info at all on, other voting machine problems, websites I can get info, contact of Sen Barbara Boxer and the other that stood with her, etc.

Any and all information is greatly appreciated and please remember I have a short deadline. Help me unveil the truth to my conservative school.

if you want write up a piece for me summarizing the whole fraud connection that would be really great, thank-You once again and please keep this kicked so I can get the info I need ASAP.

[Lydia Guerra]

1. Here's a copy of the letter we hand delivered to our US Senators January

The letter is pasted below. We had over 1000 endorsements. I'll post the additional pages right after this:

Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election

January 5, 2004

Dear Senator and Representative of the 109th Congress,

As fair-minded citizens seeking justice, we urge you neither to accept nor to certify the votes cast by the Electoral College when these are submitted to the United States Congress on January 6, 2004. We will support your efforts in making this challenge.

We are convinced that the civil rights of African Americans and other people of color, college students, Democratic and Third Party members were violated on election day, November 2, 2004. Voter suppression and intimidation occurred. These acts constitute conspicuous election fraud. Based on eyewitness accounts, we believe fraud has occurred in many states including Ohio, Florida and New Mexico, with peak levels reported and exemplified in Ohio. We make this request citing ten verifiable factors outlined by The Redefeat Bush Campaign (http://www.redefeatbush.com/downloads/tenquestions.pdf) that must lead any fair-minded person to question the "official" tally and to challenge certification of the Electoral College results.

1. Systematic, widespread voting machine irregularities.
2. Highly irregular intervention by federal authorities.
3. Impossible vote totals: Franklin County, Ohio results gave Bush 4,258 votes to Kerry’s 260 votes in
Precinct 1B while records show only 638 voters cast ballots in that precinct.
(http://www.columbusdispatch.com/election/election-president.php?story=dispatch/2004/11/05/20041105-A6- .html)
4. Openly partisan election officials.
5. Openly partisan and untrustworthy vendors of election machinery.
6. According to Dr. Freeman, PhD, Univ. of Penn, the odds of all three of the statistical anomalies between the
exit polls and actual votes in Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania occurring together are 662,000-to-one.
http://www.appliedresearch.us/sf/Documents/ExitPoll.pdf
7. Unreliable, inadequate numbers of voting equipment in poor and working class (non-Republican) areas.
8. Anomalous and atypical voting pattern changes from 2000 to 2004.
9. Uncounted ballots, double un-matching sets of tally tapes and uncooperative officials in many areas.
10. Widespread illegal voter suppression activities.

Because of widespread complaints, public hearings were held in Columbus, Ohio, November 13, at the
New Faith Baptist Church, and November 15, at the Franklin County Courthouse. The hearings were convened by Bob Fitrakis, PhD, J.D., legal advisor for the Ohio Election Protection Coalition; panelists included Ohio State Rep. Larry Price and Columbus City Council Member, Charleta Tavares. Courageous Ohio citizens stepped forward to report their experiences as voters, election volunteers and judges. On December 8, in Washington, D.C. and December 10, in Columbus, Ohio, further testimony was heard by Democratic members of the House Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), and other invited panelists such as Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Many of us endorsing this letter witnessed these events in person, saw videotape or broadcasts from C-Span or read testimony on the internet. We saw and heard evidence of voter disenfranchisement that is in violation of constitutional guarantees afforded American citizens by Constitutional Amendments 14, 15, 19, 24 and 26.

We are aware of correspondence between Rep. Conyers and Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell and, between Rep. Conyers and the President and Field Representative of Triad GSI. We are aware of Rep. Conyers’ repeated requests for the raw data on exit polls conducted by Mitofsky International and Edison Media for ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, and the Associated Press. These media outlets refuse to release this data to Rep. Conyers citing a need to wait for final reports. What possible threat could there be by releasing raw data? Unless and until the outstanding questions posed by the democratic members of the House Committee on the Judiciary are addressed and answered, the Electoral Votes presented on January 6, 2004 must not and ought not be accepted or certified.

In addition to conspicuous acts of election fraud manifested by civil rights abuses, other acts of fraud were allowed to occur as a result of Congressional inaction and Presidential neglect.
Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election
Page 2

On October 12, 2002 the Republican-controlled Congress ratified the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This act was designed to correct the civil rights abuses that occurred during the 2000 presidential election. However, not only did this act not help America vote, in the end, it hindered Americans from casting votes and permitting votes that were cast not to be counted:

• The Bush Administration has nullified the Help America Vote Act by stalling the implementation of the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) and cutting the funding to the EAC and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) from the 2004 Budget.
• Therefore, there is no operational organization to set any standards, evaluate or certify the plans which were proposed and implemented on the state level to replace punch cards and lever machines with electronic machines.
• Further, H.R. 2239, the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act, which would have required a voter-verified paper record for use in manual audits and recounts, has been tied up in a Republican-controlled committee for nineteen months.
• The rights of the voters in Florida and Ohio will not be defended by their own state governments. Widespread suppression of African American votes through racial profiling and other disenfranchisement techniques in 2000 and 2004 has been clearly documented. (Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process, Judith A. Browne, 12/7/04; http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/brownevotestmt12804.pdf).

It is important to raise the issue of civil rights and voter suppression in the context of the November 2, 2004 elections. In defense of civil rights in the country, we urge you, our Senators and Representatives, to challenge the Electoral College Votes presented to Congress on January 6, 2004. We assure you our unconditional and ongoing support in this endeavor, and will remember your courage to act with integrity at this crossroad in the history of our nation. The American People and the world will respond with gratitude, elation and political support of your efforts.

Thank you for your kind attention and dedicated service.

The following organizations and individuals affirm and endorse this request:

[Lydia Guerra]

3. A Brief Timeline on the Failures of HAVA

Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election

Congressional Voting Rights Timeline


On October 12, 2002 the Republican-controlled Congress ratified the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). This act was designed to correct the civil rights abuses that occurred during the 2000 presidential election. Thus HAVA authorized $3.8 billion in federal spending for states to replace punch card and lever voting machines.


February 26, 2003 was the deadline for the Presidential appointment of a four-member Election Assistance Commission (EAC) mandated by HAVA. With the help of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the EAC was to oversee the creation of voluntary standards that would render states eligible for HAVA funding, and to provide for testing, certification, and decertification of voting systems through the selection and monitoring of the Independent Testing Authorities (ITAs). However, this deadline was not met because the Bush Administration stalled the process by failing to submit its nominees to Congress.


On May 22, 2003 Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act
(H.R. 2239) which would have:

• Required all voting systems to produce a voter-verified paper record for use in manual audits and recounts;
• Banned the use of undisclosed software and wireless communications devices in voting systems;
• Required all voting systems to meet these requirements in time for the general election in November 2004;
• Required that electronic voting systems be provided for persons with disabilities by January 1, 2006; and
• Required mandatory surprise recounts in 0.5% of domestic jurisdictions and 0.5% of overseas jurisdictions.

Today--nineteen months later--this bill, which could have secured civil rights by insuring a fairer and more transparent election in November 2004, was suppressed by a Republican controlled committee and was never brought to the floor of Congress for a vote. This in itself is a highly suspicious act.


On October 3, 2003 the Bush administration finally submitted its four nominees for the EAC. Unfortunately, all four were proponents of paperless voting machines. On November 23, 2003, nine months after the HAVA deadline, the Republican congress confirmed the EAC nominees. However, neither the EAC nor NIST was sufficiently funded to fulfill their designated roles; in fact, $22 million in funding to NIST was cut from the 2004 budget, whereupon NIST was forced to announce, “We have terminated all our activities under HAVA for lack
of funds.”


Due to the intransigence of the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, no operational organization such as the EAC was in place to set any standards, to create a certification process or to evaluate any state plans for replacing punch card and lever machines with new voting machines such as electronic and optical scanning machines. Thus, in diametric opposition to its expressed purpose, HAVA ultimately funded the replacement of punch card and lever machines with electronic machines that were even more susceptible to intentional and unintentional miscounts. No federal standards had been set for evaluating the plans proposed by the states and no federal monitoring organization had been established to determine whether or not such standards had been met. This administration’s disregard for Congressional deadlines and its refusal to fund or provide leadership for HAVA confirms our belief that civil rights will not be protected and defended by President Bush even though he has sworn to uphold the Constitution of the United States.




Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election
Congressional Voting Rights Timeline, Page 2


Nor will these rights be defended by Republican-controlled state governments in places like Florida and Ohio where the widespread suppression of African American votes was clearly documented in both the 2000 and the 2004 elections through a variety of racial profiling and voter disenfranchisement techniques. In her December 7, 2004 report, Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process (http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/brownevotestmt12804.pdf), Judith A. Browne states that:

A review of the history of challenge statutes in Florida and Ohio demonstrates that these laws are rooted in this country’s sordid history of racial oppression. The Florida challenge statute, for example, was passed in 1868, just one year after Blacks were granted the right to vote in Florida and as part of a package of bills (which included the Florida felon disenfranchisement statute) aimed at disenfranchising newly freed slaves. The Ohio statute, originally codified in 1831, was amended in 1859 to permit challenges based upon a voter’s possession of a “visible admixture of African blood.” In 1868, the law was again amended to include questions for challenged voters about their racial identity and the racial composition of their neighborhoods and schools.

[Lydia Guerra]

5. A brief annotated bibliography

Coalition of Concerned Illinois Citizens
Seeking to Contest the November 2, 2004 Election


Annotated Selected Source Bibliography

Vote Fraud Resource
http://shadowbox.i8.com/
Site contains links to audio/video, scholarly analyses of the 2004 Election, information about Diebold voting machines, state and nationwide information, calendar of events, etc.

Election 2000 – Florida
http://www.advancementproject.org/NPFR.pdf
“Many Floridians believe that the Black community was robbed of its voice and power because of the many barriers to democracy leading up to and on November 7, 2000…Leading up to the 2000 election, the handwriting was on the wall—affirmative action was under attack and the governor refused to meet with Black state legislators, and to listen to the outcry of progressive voices seeking to protect civil rights.”

Vote Suppression by Race – 2004
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/977
The One-Two Punch of Racism: Whitewashing the Voter Fraud Issue
by Greg Moses, December 10, 2004

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/brownevotestmt12804.pdf
Statement of Judith A. Browne, Acting Co-Director, Advancement Project, “Voting in 2004: Report to the Nation on America’s Election Process” December 7, 2004. “The Advancement Project is a racial justice legal action organization that is committed to securing a Just Democracy in this country. In the November 2000 election, a combination of systemic, technical and procedural problems and inappropriate actions taken by election officials disenfranchised 4 to 6 million people.”

Hearings in Ohio and Washington, D.C. November – December 2004
http://www.theneighborhoodnetwork.org/Video/Vote/Vote.html
Videos and photos of hearings held in Ohio November and December 2004

http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2004/886
Hearings on Ohio voting put 2004 election in doubt
by Bob Fitrakis & Harvey Wasserman, November 18, 2004

Election Fraud 2004 Slide Show
by Peter Diekmeier and Amy Adams, December 17, 2004
http://www.electionfraud2004.org/presentation/index.html
http://www.electionfraud2004.org/presentation.pdf
DVD Slideshow Enclosed


Help America Vote Act 2002
http://www.electionline.org/site/docs/pdf/hr3295.pl107252.final.pdf
The HAVA document

http://www.ballotintegrity.org/
The National Ballot Integrity Project

[Alizaryn]

2. This link has much info.

http://shadowbox.i8.com/

[intheflow]

4. Yikes, Corey! That's a tall order!

There's probably too much to post in one thread, but here's where I would start:

US Rep. John Conyers' letter to Ohio Sec. of State Kenneth Blackwell requesting information on voting irregularities in Ohio:
http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohblackwellltr12204.pdf

Conyers sits on the House Judicidary Committee, so is definately not a hack or a "comspiracy theorist"--and so your teacher can't say he's not a credible source for information.

The Democratic Memebers of the House Judciary Committee also have accounts by Ohio voters of the problems they encountered trying to vote: http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/ohioquotes.pdf

Good luck on your report, and welcome to DU!

[Lydia Guerra]

6. We See Election Fraud as a Violation of Civil Rights

You can tell that we see election fraud as a violation of Civil Rights. Also, check out the US Constitution: Amendments 14, 15, 19, 24 and 26. Good luck. Keep the flame burning.

[Lydia Guerra]

7. Once your report is complete ...

Why not post it here on the DU.
Knowing that a 15 year-old is still seeking truth and justice will serve as inspiration for these DU bloggers. Don't ya think?

[Corey_Baker08]

9. Yep. i will definately post the report on here

itll be a couple weeks but ill make a new post with all my conclusions and observations, if it goes like im thinking I want to even contact Conyers and Boxer and get their testimony onto the fraud scandal.

[kitkat65]

16. Look forward to it!

[Carolab]

8. Great summary site

http://www.jqjacobs.net/bush/

[LeahD]

11. Excellent Web Site

How did I miss this one?

[Corey_Baker08]

10. Kick

:dem: :kick:

[Amaryllis]

12. go to this site and explore. http://www.chuckherrin.com/hackthevote.htm

If you are dealing with conservatives, see this:
http://www.chuckherrin.com/ConservativeEmpathy.htm
Best article I've seen on fraud, and written by a conservative, to conservatives.

[SmileMaker]

13. WoW! What a great idea.

This should get you credit in math as well as social studies/civics. Many of the best universitys are offering courses that are interdisciplinary (span several subjects). This project is good for that. Might even be good prep for a course on Election Machinery at Princeton University that was offered last semester! http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/fall04/frs125/

From the beginning of this election fraud investigation - I've thought that this would be a practical way to blend math and social studies.

I suggest that we solve election 'irregularities' by getting high school students to count the paper ballots that we cast as an education project and as a way to ensure transparency.

Good luck!

[KaliTracy]

14. Corey, it didn't look from the links that you have a link to the Status

report by Conyers -- again -- important as a "source" because it came from the Democrat House Judicial Committee http://www.pdamerica.org/field/final%20status%20report.pdf

I commend you for taking the risk to speak out to your "conservative school" I've seen your posts before, and I've seen a sharp, insightful writer. I wish you luck as you get into this project.

There is a LOT about Blackwell that needs to be investigated -- but you need to remember to focus -- too many broad generalizations won't convince your teacher, or your class.

Remember that the people who stood up for Democracy stated many times the Voter Suppression and the inequality of the voting process. They did this not to minimize the possible problems of machines being hacked -- they did this because people cannot deny the long lines happened -- and mostly in Democratic neighborhoods with the majority of the people in residence who were minorities.

Often, when it comes to speaking to those who are disbelievers, you need to step a moment on their turf -- get them to trust you, and then give them step by step reasons why people should at least Question the problems of this election. It's a monumental task to try to change people's mind about this who never thought it could be possible. As I once, to my teacher's gentle persuasion not to, wrote a report on the possibility of life in other galaxies -- you need to consider your sources, and to present a strong, -- even stronger -- case. (I used non-fiction of Asimov and various accounts from military personnel over the years, among other sources.) Consider your audience.... and gently lead them to the realization that they've been had.

(sorry, I used to be an English teacher... if I've come on too strong, I appologize...)

:hi:

[bush_is_wacko]

15. I'll let the others here post info for you they know EVERYTHING!

I just want to say....Well, I'm speechless by all the kids of my daughter's generation that are working so hard to get the truth out there(she's been doing this sort of stuff too). You guys are going to make this world a better place and this time, I promise, you won't be alone. Many of us older folks are getting involved! Can't wait for your report! I'll make sure my daughter sees it!

[LeahD]

17. Thank you, Corey,

for taking an interest in our electoral system and our country!

[seabeyond]

18. do a search on truthisall posts, he has the exit poll stats

and a search on berniew1. he has a lot of the irregularties per states. the actual machine fraud

seperate them into pre election voter suppression and intimidation. in ohio repugs even won in court the right to intimidate. then early election adn election day irregularties. a lot of places were seeing errors during early voting.

info is all over in this room

[Democrat Dragon]

19. Kerry may have lost more than a million votes before the election

This is the one Greg Palast wrote:
http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/110204V.shtml


Here's another one about up to 200,000 provisonal ballots that could go uncounted:
http://www.demos-usa.org/page192.cfm

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x281286

Those "felon" lists need to be banned.

[Melissa G]

20. Kickin for Corey!

Way to go! Hope you get an A plus on your paper!

[seabeyond]

21. a thread from bernie. lots here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=203x288554

[Democrat Dragon]

22. kick

[Wilms]

23. More Conyers Links

I see posted above some .pdf links of various works of the Democratic Members House Committee on the Judiciary. Here are some additional links.


The Home Page:

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/index.html


Letters (Main Page):

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/correspondence/letters.html


Letters before January (Lots of good ones here):

http://www.house.gov/judiciary_democrats/dletters108.htm

[Fly by night]

24. A great place to start would be the electionfraud2004.org slideshow

I have turned much of their .pdf file into a PowerPoint presentation. I have also edited a few of their slides and added about 10 of my own. You could easily pick and choose from that slideshow and put together a whiz-bang PowerPoint presentation for your classmates. Please PM me with your non-DU email address if you want my PowerPoint slideshow. (That goes for the rest of you DUers also.)

I would also use some simple analogies. Using Freeman's 250 million to one calculation (and you definitely need to read Freeman's latest paper), your classmates are twice as likely to win PowerBall on a single ticket than that the discrepency between the exit polls and the "reported" vote in OH, FL and PA occurred by chance. And using TruthIsAll's 13.5 trillion to one calculation, your classmates are 112,500 times more likely to win PowerBall with a single ticket than that the disconnect between the exit polls and the "reported" vote in 16 states occurred by chance.

I will also send you two handouts that are useful -- the "20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the US" handout and one I made from another set of TruthIsAll posts which he entitled "The Other Things You Must Believe if You Believe Bush Won The Election." Both are one page (front and back) handouts. Again, if other DUers don't have these, PM me your non-DU email address and I'll send them to you.

Good luck, young person. Take heart that you are not alone -- 30% of Americans believe the election was tampered with and that number is growing rapidly -- up from 20% about six weeks ago.

[Corey_Baker08]

25. My Email Address

Hey, thanks for helping me out this is gonna be great, my hotmail email address is what I use most ofter and its [e-mail] please e-mail me there

Once again Thank-You to everyone

[helderheid]

26. :)

http://www.solarbus.org/stealyourelection/

[sepia_steel]

27. kick

[Corey_Baker08]

28. Kick

:dem: